The personal trainer, former champion bodybuilder and motivational speaker, is on the program, today, at the Body and Soul Wellness Forum at St. Mary Medical Center in Long Beach.

He also speaks at events run by the American Cancer Society and American Diabetes Association, to employee gatherings at places such as Boeing Co. in Long Beach and the Los Angeles Probation Department in Whittier, and at churches, including Grace Unlimited Church in Carson, where he’ll be speaking Feb. 21.

The title of his presentation is “Seven Ways God Made It Simple to Take Care of Your Temple,” and each way – there actually are eight – is based on a passage from Scripture.

In a recent phone interview, Anderson, 51, said he doesn’t change his faith-based message no matter who is in the audience.

“I don’t know their denominations, but even if the people don’t know the Scripture from the Bible, one thing I learned is that everyone receives it,” he said. “That’s the miraculous thing to me.”

Anderson’s marketing materials point out his seminars are not only based on “Biblical health principles” but also on scientific facts. He did 16 months of research in both areas, giving him 1,000 pages of material for his presentation.

“I had to chop it down all the way to 49 pages,” he said.

From that, he can do presentations in anywhere from less than a minute to an hour and a half. He learned how to do this when he was a frequent guest on talk radio and had a fitness program, “Jerry’s Jump Start,” on CNN several years ago.

“I remember going to a seminar to hear Dottie Walters, who wrote the book `Speak and Grow Rich.’ She says you should be able to summarize your book or speech in less than 25 seconds,” he said.

“That’s the way I was able to be a top guest on radio stations, because I would go, `Strength training, aerobic exercise, low-fat nutrition and mental fitness. These are the four things you must do to have a trim healthy body for a lifetime.’ I could do it in 12 minutes or 12 seconds like I just did. Then I come back and start talking about these points.”

“Jerry is very effective,” said Rosa Kelson, director of health programs for the American Cancer Society, Long Beach Harbor Southeast Unit. “He’s got a great speaking voice and a great message. He engages the audience. He has absorbed the information from the American Cancer Society and has integrated it with his presentation. He’s on our speakers bureau and has done a lot of speaking for us.”

“It’s really been phenomenal,” said Elaini Negussie, associate director of African-American programs for the American Diabetes Association.

“His presentation is very tailored to the faith-based community, although he doesn’t only do that,” she said. “He’s very succinct and shows you very easy exercises you can do in your own house, basic small things, but a workout for your whole body. And it’s incremental, nothing really major, so it’s doable. And I think people really relate to that.”

Anderson, who grew up attending church every Sunday, shared a summary of his talk and the passages he based it on from the New International Version of the Bible:

“A lot of people treat their body any way they want to, but as a Christian, you’ve got the Holy Spirit inside you and you’ve got to be a good steward. Jesus Christ died on the cross for you. He paid the price for you. Don’t act like you’re not something special. When we put a value on ourselves, we treat ourselves wonderfully, but if you devalue yourself, then you don’t care.”

Eat seed-bearing foods – Genesis 1:29: “Then God said, `I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.”‘

Anderson contrasts seed-bearing plants with fast food: “We’re focusing too much on man food and not God food, and that’s why we have the big problems. Most Americans are not even eating 10 grams of fiber a day, which is nothing. I can get an apple quicker than you can get a hamburger. That’s the true fast food.

This Biblical injunction posed a problem at a recent talk: “This lady asked, `Jerry, what about seedless grapes?’ I went, `Oh my goodness,’ but I told her, “It’s healthy, God made it, it has fiber on the outside, it’s safe, you can eat it.”

Control your appetite – Proverbs 23:2: “Put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony.”

“You might as well get it done a little quicker, because you’re killing yourself anyway,” Anderson said. “When you are obese, heart disease builds up, along with stroke, cancer, diabetes and over 30 other health problems, and your self-esteem is being attacked. And that’s just not the way you were created to be.”

Don’t eat fat – Leviticus 3:17: “This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live: You must not eat any fat or any blood.”

Anderson admits that bodies need some fat. His main beef is with excess fat intake.

“The average American is taking in about 120 pounds of fat a year. The diet is almost 70 to 80 percent fat,” he said.

One of the small tips he gives to audiences is to remove the skin before eating chicken because of its high fat content.

“People say, `Jerry, you don’t like hot wings?’ I ask them, `Why do you eat them?’ `I like the taste.’ `Then how come you can’t get the taste without the fat?’ If you’re a good chef, you’ll use herbs and spices to make it taste good without the fat, but you’re not a good cook if you’re using fat to make it taste good. Anybody can do that.

“I usually get into a little arm wrestling with my audience on that, which I like, because I find out what their problems are,” he said. “And it’s the taste buds they’re trying to satisfy. I always tell them, `Why use fat for flavor when you should be using flavor for flavor?”‘

Stay strong – Deuteronomy 34:7: “Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone.”

“Your bone density is controlled by your strength, and your muscle mass is what burns the calories,” Anderson said. “As we get older, we just get weaker because we’re not using those muscles, and then you can’t fulfill your assignment, whatever it is. Moses was able to fulfill his assignment because he wasn’t weak. If your assignment is to take a vacation for your last 20 years, you won’t be able to do it if you’re too weak. That’s why it’s important to do resistance training twice a week.”

Wine is a mocker – Proverbs 20:1: “Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise.”

“You’re destroying your system with alcohol when you can’t control yourself, so I bring it to their attention how much people consume,” Anderson said. “Americans spend (about) $200 million a day on alcohol, which every five days is a billion dollars. There’s our bailout! All we have to do is stop drinking.”

Although wine is a major drink among Biblical heroes, Anderson said, “Some people in the Bible were designated not to drink because of their assignment, and you can’t become an alcoholic if you don’t drink. A lot of people drink because they say they’re trying to drown their sorrow, but sorrow knows how to swim. It follows them and makes it worse.”

Stay active – Genesis 2:15: “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”

This is about aerobic exercise to Anderson.

“The church is as overweight and underexercised as anybody,” he said. “This means activity. It doesn’t mean to sit down. I give my audience an assignment on what to do, because you need to move it.”

Renew your mind daily – Romans 12:2: “Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Anderson likes to give a bonus with his seven-part special, so he has an eighth imperative that covers the brain.

“The mind sends messages down to the body to tell it what to do. And if the way you’ve been telling it what to do is not succeeding, you’ve got to retrain the way you think,” he said. “Otherwise you’re going to be all over the place and tossed like a sailor at sea. There’s no way you can get away with just letting your mind wander.”

Personal trainer Jerry Anderson uses the Bible as a guide to his fitness philosophy. Messages he’s gleaned from the Good Book include:

Honor your body:

1 Corinthians 6:20

Eat seed-bearing foods:

Genesis 1:29

Control your appetite:

Proverbs 23:2

Don’t eat fat:

Leviticus 3:17

Stay strong:

Deuteronomy 34:7

Wine is a mocker:

Proverbs 20:1

Stay active:

Genesis 2:15

Renew your mind daily:

Romans 12:2

Body and Soul

Wellness Forum

What: Health practitioners speaking on topics such as diabetes, spirituality and health, HIV/AIDS, women’s issues and physical fitness. There will be free health screenings and exhibits.